Puerto Rican status: a small summation

As some of you may have heard, this past November 6 of 2012, Puerto Rico had a bit of a referendum in regards to its status. There has been some confusion about what happened there, so I will clear up any doubts.

There was one paper, two questions. The first question was "Do you support Puerto Rico's current political relationship to the USA?" and there were two answers to choose from: yes and no. The Yes option obtained 816 thousand votes, while the No option gained 900 thousand, so the No option was the clear winner.

The Second question was "Which of these options do you consider the best change for the political relationship with the USA?" with the options being Statehood, which garnered 824 thousand votes, Sovereignty, which garnered 449 thousand votes, and Independence, which gained 74 thousand votes. Another 480 thousand votes were left in blank.

The current government, which (thankfully and rightly) lost the recent election is claiming victory for statehood, which means that Puerto Rico officially becomes the 51st state. However, when you look at the numbers, you realize that statehood MAY have gained 61% of the registered votes for the second option, BUT it gained about 46.5% of the total vote in regards to a status in itself. The current government is, essentially, silencing the over 900 thousand people who voted AGAINST statehood, the political majority, in order to further the statehood agenda.

The ballot was designed to allow statehood to win from the get go, once you analyze the wording. The combined vote of the Independence and Statehood movement would have surpassed the vote of the Free Associated State supporters. for those not in the know, Free Associated State is the current status (Estado Libre Asociado, I translated from the original Spanish). Of course the No would win, and since Statehooders outnumber Independence supporters about fifty to one, of course statehood would win. It was a scam, a way to sneak Statehood by the backdoor! The ELA never had a fair chance!

I support Independence, and I have since high school. That said, I always had and always will concede to the will of the majority; if the majority of my people want statehood, then so be it. BUT I will NOT accept the dirty tricks of hypocrites, thieves and liars!

I have many friends, who are statehooders, whom are rather angry at the moment at those who reject the notion that statehood 'won'. I believe that statehood cheated and STILL lost.